The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is embarking on it’s first major foray into managing rangelands with the planning of the Purisima-To-The-Sea trail, which connects the Santa Cruz mountains to Highway 1. The district has adopted a policy of “conservation grazing” … Read more
Farming and Ranching
Botany, Farming and Ranching, Kids and Nature, Stewardship, The Bay
EcoFair Marin Returns!
Mark your calendars for September 9th! EcoFair Marin is back, and even better this year, with over 80 exhibits, do-it- yourself demonstrations and speakers, including author Van Jones, as keynote presenter. Inspired by San Rafael’s Climate Action Plan and presented in … Read more
Farming and Ranching, Stewardship, Wildlife
High Plains Drifters
My current beach reading has the usual ingredients: a steamy love triangle, a pitched battle between mortal enemies, and colorful characters cavorting in exotic locales. This is no dime-store novel, though, but an homage to the North American prairie entitled … Read more
Spring Issue 2012
Could Dirt Save the World from Climate Change? This Marin Group Thinks So.
A project in West Marin shows how ranchers, and a whole lot of compost, can help mitigate climate change.
Farming and Ranching, Urban Nature
A School Garden is Born in Marin
After a decade of stalled efforts and 18 months of negotiations, students at Drakes High School in San Anselmo installed a large school garden that will be used by several special programs at the public high school.
Farming and Ranching
Yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch
A group of renegade agricultural activists is challenging the notion that nothing comes for free by grafting fruit-bearing branches onto trees lining city streets.Over the past year, the Guerrilla Grafters – a diverse group of volunteers who started in San Francisco – has been splicing fruit-bearing branches onto ornamental fruit trees around the city in an effort to grow apples, cherries, pears, and other fresh produce that urban residence can enjoy for free.
Winter Issue 2012
Back to the Land at Hidden Villa
Whether you’re looking for lessons in seed saving or hikes in nature, you’ll find them in the hills above Los Altos at Hidden Villa, which was home to the region’s first youth hostel and interracial summer camp.
Winter Issue 2012
Taking Care of Baby Salmon
Proponents of the Yolo Bypass Floodplain Fishery Enhancement Project are starting small but thinking big. During the first year of the pilot project, scientists will test whether raising juvenile chinook salmon on flooded rice fields in the Yolo Bypass will help the fish get stronger and bigger before being flushed down to San Francisco Bay and out to the Pacific.
Winter Issue 2012
Naturalist’s Notebook: Migrating Birds Fill Up in Flooded Rice Fields
Artist Jack Laws headed out for some great birdwatching among the rice fields of the Sacramento Valley — and you can too!
Farming and Ranching
Farming for the community
A Petaluma farm is adapting the methods of farming popularized in The Omnivore’s Dilemma to the West Coast climate. The animals work all year round, preparing the soil in the fields for the spring planting.
